Hellolulu specialise in making their cases interestingly different from others. They use materials in a variety of colours and the design is functional, sleek and friendly. This particular case is presently available in 'black ink', 'purple cow', 'raspberry tart' and 'ocean blue' - with different colours on the insides and one or two parts of the exterior design.
Now, as a studio that uses Canon and Nikon DSLRs, we obviously look beyond the physical appearance of a product like this - we want to know if it is easy to use and, most of all, that it protects the expensive camera placed within it. Following some reasonably rigorous testing, this Avis bag from Hellolulu comes up trumps. It is well padded and the simple padded dividers are easily placed to protect a large variety of different shaped cameras. Once placed in the well-protected interior, there is a padded flap which covers the top of the camera and then the actual zipped top flap comes down separately. This is very useful, because the camera is still protected while you utilise the two zipped memory stick pockets on the inside of the top and the substantial interior zipped pocket for the battery.
When folded down the top has both a zip and press stud fastening. Once again, very useful because you can quickly press the stud if in a hurry to close the bag and still know all is safely packed within. Once closed there are a further three hidden exterior pockets, which basically cover the whole of the two sides and back of the bag, with the rear one fastened at the top by Velcro.
The shoulder strap is well-made and not a cheap add-on, with a particularly comfortable padded area that is stitched on to stay where it should be. There is also a separate integral carrying handle which again is strong and has been carefully styled at the top of the back - although off-centre, this works OK and is very strong because it is stitched into the seam of the bag itself.
What is good about this bag is that Hellolulu have designed it from the ground up and not just copied others. They have used tough waterproof materials, put thought into how it will be used, maximised storage capacity and lightweight strength, but still kept the 'fun' and 'streetwise' elements that reflect their very ethos.
